The Life of St Teresa of Avila by HerselfBorn in the Castilian town of Ávila in 1515, Teresa entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation when she was twenty-one. Tormented by illness, doubts and self-recrimination, she gradually came to recognize the power of prayer and contemplation - her spiritual enlightenment was intensified by many visions and mystical experiences, including the piercing of her heart by a spear of divine love. She went on to found seventeen Carmelite monasteries throughout Spain. Teresa always denied her own saintliness, however, saying in a letter: 'There is no suggestion of that nonsense about my supposed sanctity.' This frank account is one of the great stories of a religious life and a literary masterpiece - after Don Quixote, it is Spain's most widely read prose classic. |
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Contents
How good company reawakened her desires and how God began | |
She continues to speak of the great infirmities that she suffered of | |
How she began to lose the graces the Lord had given her and of | |
Common terms and phrases
afraid allow already appeared asked bear become began beginning believe better blessed body bring cause Chapter clearly comes comfort completely confessor consider continues convent deal death delight describe desire devil distress effects everything experience explain eyes fail Father favours fear feel felt gain gave give given God’s grace granted greater greatly hand happened harm holy humility keep kind knew learned leave light live look Lord lost Majesty matter mean mind nature never occasions once ourselves pain perfection person pleased pleasure possible praise pray prayer present rapture realize reason receive remain remember seems seen serve sins sometimes soul speak spiritual strength suffered tell things thought told trials true truth understand virtue vision whole wish writing
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Life of St Teresa of Avila by Herself Penguin classics |
| Author | Teresa of Avila |
| Translated by | J. Cohen |
| Publisher | Penguin UK, 2004 |
| ISBN | 0141916540, 9780141916545 |
| Length | 320 pages |
| Subjects | › › Biography & Autobiography / Religious Religion / Christian Church / History Religion / Christianity / Catholic Religion / Christianity / Saints & Sainthood |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |